* Daniel Francisco Chapo, candidate of Mozambique's ruling party Frelimo, has emerged as the frontrunner in the presidential race, with 70.67 percent of the total votes in the 2024 Mozambican general elections, according to preliminary results confirmed by National Electoral Commission (CNE) Thursday.
* Ministers from the G20 group of largest economies agreed on Thursday that international trade and investments should foster sustainable development and enhance the participation of women in world trade.
* Russian President Vladimir Putin said his Turkish counterpart, Tayyip Erdogan, had proposed reviving contacts on Black Sea shipping but that he had not yet had time to study the documents.
* Serbia remains committed to its European integration, bolstered by strong support from Poland, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said after talks with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in Belgrade on Thursday.
* European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Thursday called on North Macedonia to implement the necessary constitutional changes to facilitate the resumption of European Union (EU) accession talks.
* Turkey's foreign minister will travel to Djibouti next week to attend a Turkey-Africa ministerial meeting and discuss improving cooperation between Ankara and the continent, officials from his ministry said.
* The Canadian federal government announced an immigration levels plan on Thursday to pause population growth in the short term which will witness a population decline in 2025 and 2026.
* Current immigration levels will keep Finland's population growing until 2070, according to the latest population forecast by Statistics Finland published on Thursday.
* Malta announced plans on Thursday to increase its share of renewable energy to 25 percent by 2030 and achieve climate neutrality by 2050.
* Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan convened a high-level security meeting on Thursday regarding Wednesday's terror attack targeting aerospace and defense firm TUSAS, the state-run TRT broadcaster reported.
* An immediate ceasefire is needed in the Gaza Strip as the enclave faces the additional threat of polio spreading, if the final phase of a vaccination campaign continues to delay in the besieged North Gaza, a UN humanitarian official said on Thursday.
* U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday there was a real sense of urgency in getting to a diplomatic resolution to end the conflict in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah, while calling for the protection of civilians.
* High-ranking Egyptian security officials met with a delegation of Hamas leaders in Cairo on Thursday to discuss Gaza ceasefire talks, the Egyptian Press Center reported.
* U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced plans to provide 135 million USD in additional humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people during his tour in the Middle East on Thursday.
* French President Emmanuel Macron has again called for a ceasefire in Lebanon, at the opening of the International Conference in Support of Lebanon's People and Sovereignty in Paris on Thursday.
* At least 150 people were killed and injured in an Israeli strike on Jabalia, north of the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian Civil Defense in Gaza reported on Thursday.
* At least 140 suspected gunmen were killed by Nigerian troops in anti-terror operations across the country in the past week, a defense official said on Thursday.
* More than 10,000 people in Haiti have been internally displaced in the last week as armed gangs operating in and around the capital Port-au-Prince ramp up attacks on areas they do not yet control, according U.N. migration agency estimates on Thursday.
* At least 10 Pakistani security personnel were killed in a militant attack on an outpost near the northwest city of Dera Ismail Khan late on Thursday, two police sources said.
* The International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned on Thursday that the global economy is in danger of getting stuck on a low-growth high-debt path, urging policymakers to act on debt and carry out pro-growth reforms.
* The World Bank Group on Thursday announced a set of actions and concrete goals that aim to boost economic opportunities for more women, taking the first steps toward implementing its Gender Strategy 2024-2030.
* The Russian central bank hiked its key interest rate by 200 basis points (bps) on Friday to 21%, the highest level since February 2003.
* The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Thursday approved a loan of 434.25 million USD to increase renewable energy capacity and improve energy security in India's Assam state.
* The Croatian government has decided to raise the monthly minimum wage by 130 euros (140.4 USD), bringing it to 970 euros from next year, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said at a cabinet meeting on Thursday.
* The People's Bank of China (PBOC) and the Bank of Japan have agreed to renew their bilateral currency swap deal amounting to 200 billion yuan (about 28.13 billion USD), or 3.4 trillion Japanese yen.
* Greek Finance Minister Kostis Hatzidakis told Reuters that the government will maintain fiscal prudence to safeguard its growth path and emergence from a debilitating debt crisis a decade ago, even amid higher wage demands by striking teachers and ferry workers.
* Malaysia's inflation eased to 1.8 percent in September, official data showed Thursday. The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) said in a statement that the inflation in September was driven by a slower increase in the main groups of personal care, social protection and miscellaneous goods and services (3.1 percent).
* The death toll from tropical storm Trami that slammed into the Philippines this week has risen to 46, with at least 20 other people still missing, authorities said Friday.
* Heavy rains accompanied by gusty winds Friday battered coastal areas of the eastern Indian states of Odisha and West Bengal under the impact of severe cyclonic storm Dana, officials said.
* Four astronauts returned to Earth on Friday after being delayed by Boeing's problems and Hurricane Milton, media reports said.
* Nepal has permitted 1,092 climbers to summit 41 mountains in the country during the fall climbing season, the Department of Tourism announced on Thursday.
